A thought about Carbon Monoxide

Years ago I worked as the IT guy for a small electric utility.In order to smoke I had to go outside, (our servers needed clean air).Next door to us was a workshop where they did a lot of things, some engineering, some chemistry, some electronics.

One thing they invented was a system to kill anything living in potable water or in a hospital situation. This included Blood plasma and sometimes regular fresh blood. The fresh blood would need to be run through an oxygenator to be used afterward.

Interestingly, all of this cleansing, death and destruction was because the system used carbon monoxide. Carbon Monoxide will kill any living cell in short order. If it could be fed to a cancerous growth without involving the surrounding healthy tissue, it would kill the cancer in seconds with out danger of the cancer spreading.

Now to my thought:

If you find critters like powder post beetles in a piece you have built and finished, could you put the piece in a large bag and fill it with exhaust from a car? Yes, I know that there will be a lot of water vapor, that is what modern cars make, but there is still an element of CO in the mix, along with other things.

Filter the moisture, let the gas through… that could be accomplished in a lot of ways, it’s not my job to perfect it, only to pose the question, but this seems like it might have possibilities.

Insects don’t have lungs so don’t ‘breathe’ oxygen technically, but they do need it to survive. And they give off carbon dioxide like we do. So yes – I would say you can kill them with CO. But would you kill all the eggs they leave behind in wood?

dhazelton, Actually, insects do breath oxygen through various means. Most breath through the joints in it’s body.We protect the gardens around here with diatomaceous earth. It is non hazardous, non poisonous and safe for pets.Diatomaceous earth is made up of diatomes, little critters that lived millions of years ago. What is left is the shells, which are very good at filtration, but also each piece is razor sharp.It gets into the insects joints and cuts them all up so they can’t transfer air.

dhazelton, Actually, insects do breath oxygen through various means. Most breath through the joints in it s body.We protect the gardens around here with diatomaceous earth. It is non hazardous, non poisonous and safe for pets.Diatomaceous earth is made up of diatomes, little critters that lived millions of years ago. What is left is the shelss, which are very good at filtration, but also each piece is razor sharp.
It gets into the insects joints and cuts them all up so they can t transfer air.

- Dallas

The way I understand it is that the diatoms earth cuts the joints up and the insect basically dehydrates because of the loss of fluid.

Copied from the National Pesticide Information CenterDiatomaceous earth is not poisonous; it does not have to be eaten in order to be effective. Diatomaceous earth causes insects to dry out and die by absorbing the oils and fats from the cuticle of the insect’s exoskeleton. Its sharp edges are abrasive, speeding up the process. It remains effective as long as it is kept dry and undisturbed.

in Complete combustion the two main results are water and carbon dioxide not carbon monoxide. although both will render the same results: asphyxiation. CO is considered poisonous while CO2 is not. CO steals Oxygen to become the CO2 and CO2 wont let go of the O2 it has.

CEO’s got it. Very little carbon monoxide exits the tail pipe due to the oxidation reduction reaction taking place in the catalytic converter(s). Still, pumping exhaust into a space will asphyxiate any critter in that space. If that company used carbon monoxide to clean blood, I’d be surprised. It is a poison. What are they killing, in this case?

If you have access to nitrogen gas, that might work. As far as beetles that haven’t hatched, do they not need oxygen? Seems like a nitrogen purge would kill anything if left inside that container.

It is a good idea. The practice has been around a while.This pdf is about fumigating grain.

“Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a fumigant that producesno harmful residues and is relatively safe to use. It iseffective in killing insects in all stages of their lifecycles and could be used for long-term storage ofproducts. Nowadays, CO2 is the only fumigant that canbe used to control insect pests in organic productstorage. CO 2 fumigation should be practiced undercompletely sealed storage, and concentration must bemaintained at 35% or higher during the first 15 days.”